The Dove – Disaster ‘strikes’

April 3, 2017

New water.

Having recently joined LADFFA I’ve been eager to get my self out on the water. After already popping to Rocester for a recy I thought I’d try my luck Saturday afternoon as the clouds had parted and the sun made an appearance. With the rod packed I was off, making my way through Lichfield, Rugeley and on towards Uttoxeter before shortly arriving at the Dove. Much to my amazement I had the venue to myself, which did make me wonder if I was eager or didn’t know something the regulars did. With the urge to catch a rising fish I carefully wandered the banks keeping an eye out for that familiar boil on the surface. Being a new water I could only guess where I thought rises may happen. At first everything appeared quiet and I saw no rises or any form of fly life.

Sat Gazing down towards the confluence

Tackling up.

Plonking my arse down on the grass I decided I’d set up to nymph the 100 yard section ahead of me. Threading the line through the eyes of the rod I felt disappointed I wasn’t setting up my dry fly set-up. As I began to tie on my tippet I heard what sounded like a pig fall in the water on the opposite bank, a quick look up with an out burst of explicit’s re-assured what I thought. A rise, either an over confident small fish or a pig. That was it the nymph line was wound back onto the reel and my dry fly set up was now being thread. I sat patiently but no other rises happened. Edging my way down into the water I positioned my self to present a fly into the slack section of water just the other side of the current, still waiting patiently I was eventually presented with a small rise around 2 feet above the previous one. Hoping a carefully presented fly may tempt who ever was sat waiting to ambush a struggling fly on the surface, I made my move. Not wanting to spook the fish I cast out of the channel but upstream to get a feel for the distance needed. after around 3-4 relatively good casts I landed what to me was a pretty perfect presentation. Upon on contact with the water a brief drift of about half a foot was met with a confident engulfing of the fly, to which I quickly set the hook into a fiery little trout. Most definitely not the pig I hoped for but a very stunning first fish from a new water.

Stunning fish from a new venue (still trying to perfect the self take)

Disaster strikes.

Pleased with my first catch from the venue, I decided to set the nymphs back up, as the rises had gone very quiet. nymphing through the next section I tempted an out of season Grayling who took a liking to my small PTN. With the weather being very mixed it was making visibility hard on the eyes, one moment sun then heavy cloud. Climbing back out of the water I sat for a moment contemplating what to do next, I moved on up another 50 yards and caught a glimpse of a rise. Although it appeared to be from a very small fish I thought it worth a go. After setting up and getting my self into position I cast my fly upstream to the now frequently rising fish. First cast was a good one and the trout couldn’t resist, watching my fly get sipped off the surface and disappear into a boil I quickly lifted the rod to set the hook. Bang, my rod broke in the mid section and zip lined down my fly line to the waters surface, the fish pulled and lunged and with no cushion it instantly broke the tippet which in turn freed the rod section. Quickly winding in and hopping and splashing my way down the river I managed to catch up with the rod section that had gone adrift. In utter shock at what had just happened I scrambled out the river and muttered to my self ‘well that’s me off home’ whilst considering fetching the other rod out the car. deciding against getting the other rod I packed up and drove home with my tail between my legs not quite understanding what had just happened. All I can think is that the carbon was flawed as the strike was gentle and was only being fished with 6x tippet. All being well warranty will honour this one